Community Outfits Traded Votes for Money: Pinarayi
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said that caste and community organisations had turned the Lok Sabha election into an opportunity to trade votes for money.
Briefing mediapersons about the decisions of the two-day state committee meeting of the party which concluded on Friday, he said no that community could claim distinction when it comes to trading of votes. Asked whether NSS and SNDP also had traded votes, he asked whether these organisations had got any distinction in this regard.
He said that the LDF could improve its tally from four to eight compared to the performance of the 2009 elections. Also, the LDF vote share has increased by 4.93 lakh while UDF recorded a slump of 1.10 lakh.
While LDF claimed 40.17 percent of votes, UDF could garner 42.02 percent. BJP managed to get 10.83 percent. However, Pinarayi Vijayan said the media and a section of public were propagating the idea that BJP had made a giant leap. In fact, compared to the vote percentage of 2004, BJP has not improved its vote share, Pinarayi Vijayan said.
‘’Normally, BJP votes get traded during every elections. This time, RSS intervention and BJP leadership vigil was instrumental in party supporters casting their votes in favour of party candidates. Still, there has been a decline in their votes in at least in five constituencies’’ he said. He pointed out that BJP had not increased its vote share in Attingal, Kollam, Alathur, Vatakara and Idukki, However, he said that the CPM would examine the erosion of its votes in favour of the BJP. “The party would probe the cause of defeat in certain constituencies seriously. We have engaged state-level leaders to conduct a probe into the defeat in Kollam, Alappuzha, Kozhikode and Vatakara constituencies’’ he said.
Vijayan alleged that UDF had used the official machinery during the elections. Referring to the defeat at Thiruvananthapuram, he said at no stage during the campaign had the party received any hint about such a defeat. Vijayan said UDF were in bad shape when the election process were kickstarted. The UDF Government had been isolated from the people. RSP’s decision to move out of the LDF was the result of a conspiracy led by UDF. He said despite the RSP’s defection to the UDF, the LDF could put up a united fight.
Patting the CPI’s work on the campaign front, he said CPI workers had done creditable work in all the constituencies including Kollam for LDF candidates. Referring to M A Baby’ defeat in Kollam, Vijayan said party had not failed in keeping vigil in the wake of RSP’s defection. He praised the role played by minor parties like CMP, JSS, Forward Bloc and Red Flag which had associated with the LDF. He said he did not think RSP’s decision to quit LDF had anyway affected the defeat of LDF in any constituency other than Kollam.
Vijayan alleged that a section of the media had conspired to propagate the view that Congress party would be the force to stop the onward march of BJP and Narendra Modi. Following this, votes of minorities, especially the Muslim community, consolidated in favour of Congress. He said it was not the same with the Christian votes this time as a good number of Christian votes were cast in favour of LDF candidates. He reiterated that he had no regret about making stinker remarks against N K Premachandran as he deserved it.
He pointed out that two of the five Independents fielded by CPM could win from Idukki and Chalakkudy. He also expressed concern over extremist groups and NOTA polling 6.3 per cent votes.